Merry Christmas To Me

It was finally Christmas. Not being able to properly celebrate it last year didn't bother anyone since they preferred to be at David's side in the hospital but AJ was very much looking forward to having her own tree. She decorated the apartment from head to toe in the tackiest decorations and even had Larry dressed up as a reindeer. Christmas Eve she went out with Punk and picked out a fresh tree and skipped happily ahead of him as he struggled to carry the tree down the block.

"What a beautiful tree." Kate said as Punk and Jason set it up in the corner of the living room.

"Phil thinks it stupid since it's only one night and tomorrow we'll be at your place." AJ said to her.

"Yet I carried it six blocks for you." Punk remarked and Jason laughed. "Shut up." he said to Jason.

"I got all of these cool ornaments." AJ said putting a box down.

"Wow." Kate chuckled seeing all the different colors and sizes. "No theme, huh?"

"No. My mom never let me put a fun decoration on the tree ever. I made so many in school and they never made it to the tree." AJ said to her.

"Well DJ and I made these." Kate said passing her a hand made ornament. It was DJ's picture in a cute fabric tree.

"I love it! Our first home made ornament made by my favorite artist ever." AJ grinned kneeling down to DJ who was in his portable swing and kissed him causing him to laugh. "We're still going to string popcorn right?" she asked him.

"Yea start making it." Punk told her and she skipped into the kitchen.

"This is a big ass tree." Jason said as they finally got in on the stand.

"She wanted a big one." Punk said. "She's real excited."

"I can see that." Jason grinned. "Hey, DJ appreciates all of AJ's crazy decorations and he is getting a kick out of Larry."

"Poor Larry." Punk said with a frown looking towards his dressed up dog.

"Wait until you do have kids." Jason warned. "She's going to dress him up for every holiday." he whispered.

"I heard that!" AJ yelled from across the room.

"I think Larry looks cute." Kate defended. "DJ can't take his eyes off of him."

"Because he's scared." Punk said to her.

"He's scarier when he's not dressed up." Jason mumbled.

"Don't call him ugly." Punk scolded. "I hate that. Larry is sensitive to that kind of shit."

"Your dog is sensitive?" Jason laughed. "A year and a half ago you never even petted a dog."

"Oh I have to give you your present!" AJ said to Punk.

"I said in the morning." He said to her.

"It needs to be at midnight." She said as she poured a bag of popcorn into a large bowl and put another package in the microwave.

"Why?" he asked her.

"Because it just has to be. I want that to be our tradition. Exchanging gifts at midnight." She informed him.

"What about what I want?" Punk asked her.

"You want whatever I want." She said confused. "You tell me that all of the time."

"He does." Jason agreed as Punk glared at him. "I've heard him say it countless times."

"So that's what I want and in turn that's what you want." She smiled happily and shrugged.

"You're going to love what she got you." Jason said to him.

"Yea?" Punk asked intrigued.

"Yea." Jason agreed.

"Don't spill it." AJ warned Jason. "It's been so hard to keep this a secret."

"I could imagine." Jason teased.

"And Uncle Punk and I got you a ton of presents." AJ said walking over to DJ and grabbing his little hand. "He's excited too." she said looking over to Punk.

"Are you going to force him to stay awake until midnight?" Punk asked her.

"Of course not. He'll get his presents much earlier." AJ grinned.

"Tomorrow." Punk told her.

"No. Tomorrow his gifts from Santa come. Tonight he gets his gifts from his favorite aunt and uncle." She informed him.

"I don't even know why I speak anymore." Punk scoffed.

"It's a waste, take it from a married man." Jason said to him.

"What was that?" Kate asked Jason coldly.

"Nothing dear." Jason said quickly.

At 11:50 AJ was putting on her shoes and jacket and Punk looked over to her as he sat in his chair watching a movie they had just put on.

"Going somewhere?" he asked with a laugh.

"It's almost time for your present." She said to him. "It's in the garage."

"You left my present in the place I work in?" Punk asked her.

"You didn't find it, did you?" She teased.

"Unless you got me a can of gas." Punk smirked.

"You're going to have to help me carry it because it's heavy." She said to him and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You got me a chair?" He asked her in disbelief and she smiled. "Not only did you get me a chair but you left it downstairs in that smelly shop? And now after carrying a huge tree up the stairs I have to carry a recliner?"

"You are so grouchy tonight." AJ said a little taken back. "Do you hate Christmas or something?"

"I don't hate it but I'm not religious so I don't see the point in it." Punk admitted.

"If you don't want your gift that's just fine." AJ said to him. "But I want you to know not only did I put a lot of thought into your gift but I saved all my tips up for over six months. That means I didn't spend a dime of money on myself for anything, I've been going to school all day and working so much to put this together for you and you have ruined it."

"AJ-" He started.

"No it's fine. I'll try to return it because I'm sure someone else will appreciate it." AJ said then walked out of the apartment and slammed the door behind her causing Larry to bark.

"It's just a fucking chair." He said looking at Larry and standing up and reached for his jacket.

Punk didn't see AJ in the hallway and headed down to the shop and saw the lights were still off but the shop that was supposed to have no cars in it since they were closed the holiday had a car in it.

"What the fuck?" Punk asked reaching for the light switch and his eyes lit up. It was an old beat down 1963 Buick Riviera. It was his absolute dream car growing up. The car probably didn't even run but he was in absolute awe of it and insanely jealous of the owner.

"What are you doing here?" AJ asked appearing from the office with her arms folded.

"What is this doing here?" He asked her.

"That was your Christmas present." She said and his face dropped.

"Excuse me?" He asked thinking he misheard her.

"It doesn't run right now and it will take a long time but you also talked about how you wanted to rebuild a car from scratch and I know this was your favorite-" She started.

"How did you know that?" Punk asked seriously.

"You've said it like a hundred times." She reminded him. "I do listen you know. I'm not as self involved as you seem to think that I am."

"AJ this is incredible." Punk said as he slowly smiled looking back at the car now. "This car is my dream car."

"Yea so I've been told." She said still annoyed. "You thought I got you a chair." She scoffed. "And you hate Christmas."

"I don't-" he started then stopped. "How did you pay for this? Even an old broken down model is really fucking expensive."

"I saved." She told him honestly. "No I didn't go to my parents if that's what you are thinking or take from our savings account. I literally worked my ass off. All those days I told you I was at the library studying I was actually picking up extra shifts at work. The times I was going out shopping but you never noticed I came back with nothing? Also working. I also got a good deal."

"From Jack?" He asked her.

"No." AJ said quickly knowing that would piss him off. "I found a good deal online from some guy."

"You went to meet some guy on the internet with a pocket full of cash?" He asked in disbelief and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't be stupid." She scoffed. "Jason came with me then Jack did show up and helped to get the guy knock the price down and stored it at his dealership for me. But he didn't sell it to me."

"I can't believe you did this." He said to her still shocked. "I can't believe you actually remember the car I mentioned. I mean this is the exact model."

"You've done so much for me this past year I just wanted to give you something that would make you smile. You made all of my dreams come true so I thought I could make yours too." She said to him.

"AJ I love this." He said with a genuine smile. "Nobody has ever gotten me something like this or really put thought into a gift then worked their ass of to get it for me. But don't ever think that you don't make me smile or my dreams didn't come true the second you agreed to marry me."

"Really?" She asked trying not to smile as he placed his hands on her upper arms.

"AJ this is incredible." he said to her and gave her a kiss. "Thank you."

"I just wanted you to love it." she said to him.

"This is going to take a long time to fix up but I can do it." Punk said now circling the car.

"Jason inspected it and said it won't be easy but it can be done." AJ told him and he nodded.

"Jason would know better than me." Punk said honestly and tilted his head looking at the back of the car.

"Do I get to ride it when it's finished?" She asked and he cringed. "Please?"

"How about you ride in the passenger side the first few times then we'll talk about it?" He suggested looking under the hood. "This is going to take a year, probably longer to fix up."

"I figured all the nights I'm working or working at the crisis center you can fix up the car." AJ said to him and he nodded in agreement then peered over to look at her.

"Crisis center?" Punk asked.

"I volunteered to work there this term." AJ told him.

"Wow." Punk said to her. "That's awesome but how late will you be there?"

"It runs from 9 to midnight." She told him.

"You know I'm going to be picking you up right?" he asked.

"Yea, yea." she said with a wave of her hand. "I'm also really considering changing my major I have to decide."

"I want you to do what makes you happy." He said to her.

"It'll only be one more year of school." She reasoned quickly walking over to him. "But it's a more stable job then a journalist-"

"You don't have to defend it to me. I want you to do it." He encouraged.

"Money will be a little tighter." AJ warned him.

"AJ we have so much money from the party your parents threw we can afford it." He said to her. "Even if we didn't we'd still make it work. Go for it. I think you'd be a great councilor."

"Thank you." She said kissing his cheek but his head went right back under the hood and she eyed him.

"I want to start right now." He said anxiously.

"No." She whined. "Start New Years eve."

"New Years Eve?" He asked.

"Yea I also forgot to mention I'm working." She noted and he frowned. "They needed me there."

"AJ." He groaned.

"I know it sucks but I promised I'd be there." she said to him.

"I wish you'd get a different job." He said closing the hood of the car. "I want to spend New Years Eve with you."

"You can come down and kiss me at midnight." She offered.

"Well obviously." He snorted. "I can't believe you were sneaking out to work so much."

"I can't believe I pulled this off." She admitted. "I literally just got the money saved up two weeks ago and last week I got the car. But I feel so good to know that I worked for this myself."

"It makes it ten times better but I still think you spent way too much money on me. Like so much that I don't even want to give you your gift."

"Don't be stupid. It's not about the money." She said to him. "And don't say you won't give me my gift. Can I have it now?" She asked anxiously.

"Yea I guess even though I can't really compare it to this." He said looking back at the car. "I have to name her too."

"You're going to name your car?" She asked with a laugh and he nodded.

"Of course I am." He said proudly.

"You should name it April." She suggested.

"I already have an April in my life." He reminded her and she smiled.

"That is true." AJ grinned. "Can I have my present now finally?"

"Yea ok." he smirked and looked back at his car but AJ tugged him by his hand and dragged him to the stairs.

Finally AJ got Punk back in the apartment and she locked the door and waited for her gift.

"So I remember last year when you first got here David made a list of things he wanted to do with you before he died and when you got here you added to it." Punk said to her.

"Oh yea." AJ remembered. "It was a nice thought but he was too sick."

"He really wanted to do those things with you. So much so that he gave me the list and asked me to do them with you." Punk said pulling the paper out of the bag.

"Wow you really kept this?" AJ asked smiling at the list. It wasn't a super long list but it was long enough.

"I don't think I'll be able to buy you a pony or take you to the moon though." he remarked referring to some of the items on her list that she had added.

"I don't think Larry would like a pony." AJ said looking at Larry who didn't seem happy to still be dressed as it was.

"But there are some things I can do with you." Punk said to her. "Such as skydiving." he said pointing to the number one item on the list.

"You're taking me skydiving?" She asked with a big grin and he nodded pulling out at the tickets and she snatched them from him. "Phil! This is amazing!" she shouted hugging him tightly.

"I'm glad throwing yourself out of a plan brings you this much joy." He teased.

"Wait a second." She said eyeing the tickets. "These tickets are for a place in Florida. You got the wrong state."

"No." He said taking the tickets from her and reading them himself. "Huh."

"See." She pointed. "We can't go all the way to Florida for just one thing."

"You're right." Punk agreed. "Hey, what's the second item on that list?" he asked her and she read the paper and her entire face literally lit up.

"What doe it say?" He asked.

"No way." She said to him in disbelief as she snatched the bag from him and pulled out Mickey Mouse ears. "You're taking me to Disney world?" she asked holding back tears.

"David took me and Jason a few times and I know your parents never let him take you because they didn't trust he'd watch you properly in Disney and you'd get lost or something else ridiculous." Punk remembered. "David always regretted not taking you and I swore I'd right that for him."

"I've never been period." she sniffled. "We always went to fancy over the top places they never took me anywhere fun like Disney world." She cried and hugged him again. "Thank you so much." She said and he hugged her back.

"Don't cry." He said to her. "I hate when you do that."

"I'm so happy though. You're giving me something that reminds me of my dad and it means so much to me." She said to him not wanting to let go.

"We're leaving in two days." He told her and she pulled away.

"Phil I have to work, I just told you I have to work New Years Eve." She said to him. "I can't afford to lose my job."

"I spoke to your boss three months ago when I booked this." He informed her. "He told me he'd play along with it and even told me he'd put you on New years to really throw you off. I wanted to go before school started up again so this was the only time and besides a lot of people go during the holiday break so I got a great deal."

"I still can't believe this." She said looking at the tickets. "How could you think your gift couldn't compare to mine?" she asked seriously. "Your gift is thoughtful and also pretty expensive and now I ask, how did you pull this off money wise?"

"I saved." he shrugged. "And like I said I got a great deal. Now I do think we both went a little over board with our gifts."

"You're right. Let's return your car so we have more spending cash for Disney." She teased.

"No." He laughed. "That car is my new baby." he said to her.

"Don't let Larry hear you say that." AJ warned him and stood up.

"Where are you going?" he asked. "Are you already going to bed?"

"No so don't sneak out and go look at your car." She warned him. "Part two of your gift is now."

"What's part two?" he asked.

"It involves a red teddy and a santa hat." She told him and he groaned.

"Damn." he grinned. "I think Christmas is seriously my new favorite holiday." he said as she walked into the bedroom to get changed. "You stay out here." He said pointing at Larry as he removed his t-shirt.

"Phil!" AJ giggled as he stormed in the room and tackled her playfully onto the bed before she could even get dressed.